PHNOM, PENH—Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Carlo Paalam and first-timer Paul Julyfer Bascon were impressive at the start of the boxing competitions Saturday in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games at the Chroy Changvar Center Hall G.
Olympian Irish Magno assured herself of at least a bronze medal after a 5-0 unanimous decision win over Nan A Mwe Hom of Myanmar in women’s bantamweight quarterfinals battle.
She advanced to the semifinals against the winner of the other quarterfinals fight between an Indonesian and Singaporean.
Ranged against Cambodian Sao Rangsey, Paalam used his explosive jabs to control the fight and scored a convincing 5-0 win, capped by three knockdowns in the third round of their bantamweight preliminary bout.
“I didn’t feel any pressure at all during the fight because I knew I was controlling the whole bout with my jabs,” Paalam, the Asian Boxing Confederation Men’s Elite Boxing Championships bantamweight gold medalist last year in Jordan, said.
Bascon also scored a 5-0 unanimous decision victory over Myanmar’s Aung Soe Moe in the preliminary round of their light welterweight bout as he stamped his mark in his SEA Games debut.
“I felt I was winning even in the first round. He was very predictable,” Bascon, 26, said of his outclassed rival.
“Thank you to my coaches for helping me. I’m hoping to go all the way,” added the Panabo, Davao del Norte native, who will take on Vietnamese Thanh D also in the quarterfinals on Monday.
Paalam, 24, will also return to action on Monday when he faces Malaysian Daeloniel McDelon in the quarterfinals.